But there were some things that Aldi just had better prices on - eggs, frozen salmon - all sorts of things. But they didn't have the unlimited deal with Instacart like Publix did. So every time we ordered from Aldi, we also paid a fee to Instacart for the delivery. And of course there were tips for the shoppers at Aldi and Publix.
It all worked fairly well. Sometimes they'd be out of the item you selected and the shopper would choose something else. Sometimes Mark would tell them a substitution was okay but if I'd been asked, I would have said no. And then there's the issue of fresh produce. In the past, when I did my own shopping there were times when a particular vegetable was on my list but I didn't buy it because the selection was just too poor. But when you tell an Instacart shopper you want a tomato, they'll bring you a tomato - even if it looks anemic. I've also been unhappy in the past with some of Mark's produce selections. So entrusting some kid off the street who doesn't even know what a daikon is to choose a daikon or (any other vegetable) is iffy at best. Let's just say I was never particularly happy with the fresh produce. We started eating more frozen vegetables.
But then the bills came. We were spending upwards of a thousand dollars a month on groceries. This was not sustainable. Part of it was because food prices were going up - particularly meat and produce. But part of it was because of the delivery.
We started cutting back on the number of deliveries. In the past, if we realized we were out of something, someone would make a dash to the store and we'd get it. When you have to spend at least $35 to have it delivered, it's best to see if you can't live without that item until you need more stuff. We also thought we could save money by ordering online and then doing curbside pickup. We wouldn't have to pay the Instacart fees or tip anyone for shopping. (And while some of the shoppers were wonderful, I always wanted to get the tip back from the people who brought me a broken egg or the wrong item, or an ugly vegetable.) And we did save money that way, even when you consider the gas and other costs associated with driving a car.
But I still suspected that we were overpaying. We decided if we went to the new store - it's bigger and there aren't as many people there (and the one's who are there are wearing masks) - and as long as we wore our masks and went early in the morning, it would probably be okay.
Rather than writing out a shopping list, we printed out the order we'd planned to pick up curbside. If we'd picked it up curbside, we'd have paid roughly $190. But we went into the store, bought everything on the list, PLUS several things that weren't on the list (like fresh flowers for $12) and the total came to $165. We saved $25 and got more than we would have if we'd done the curbside pick up. AND everything was what I wanted - no mistakes on the order and the fresh produce was all good.
But I was shocked at the difference in the price. I knew we were paying a premium for delivery but I didn't realize we were paying that high a premium for curbside pickup. Now I know. Unless the caseload of Covid skyrockets up again, we'll be shopping early and in person.
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